Resources: Build a gingerbread house

Gingerbread houses aren't just homemade projects done in the kitchen with mom anymore.

These houses have become a part of Christmas celebrations at luxury hotels, such as Le Parker Meridien in Manhattan, which is hosting a lobby display of gingerbread versions of the Sphinx in Egypt, the Mexican temple Chichen Itza and the Lincoln Memorial, etc. -- all designed by New York City bakeries.

Susan Matheson, co-author of "The Gingerbread Architect: Recipes and Blueprints for Twelve Classic American Homes," says the professional gingerbread creations are "elaborately detailed, spellbinding constructions that must require an army of pastry chefs, historians, engineers. ... The results can elevate the craft to a high art form."

But Matheson doesn't approve of using glue guns or nonedible components: "It's 100 percent digestible, or count me out," she says, adding that she appreciates "the smell of baking gingerbread" and the "rough cut, over-iced, slumped and out of plumb gingerbread house." And also "the little hands" that help create it.